The present invention generally relates to an apparatus, a system and a method for testing a cartridge. More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus, a system and a method for testing a cartridge, such as, for example, a toner cartridge that may have toner therein. The toner cartridge may be inserted into and/or used in conjunction with, for example, a printer, a telefax machine and/or a photocopier. The apparatus and/or the system may be attached to the printer via a port on the printer. The apparatus and/or the system may have a programmable logical device which may communicate and/or may control the printer and/or the cartridge. The programmable logical device may transmit and/or may communicate a signal to the printer. As a result, the printer and the toner cartridge may pulse and/or may print one or more pages of paper to test the toner cartridge. Further, the printer may perform and/or may execute a yield test. A user may inspect and/or may review one or more printed test pages to determine a quality and/or an effectiveness of the toner cartridge.
It is generally known that a toner cartridge may be filled with and/or have toner within a toner hopper. The toner cartridge may be new, used, emptied, recharged and/or refilled. The toner cartridge may have been assembled incorrectly and/or one or more elements of the toner cartridge may be defective. The toner cartridge may be inserted into the printer for testing of a quality, an effectiveness, a longevity and/or a durability of the toner cartridge.
The printer may have a port, such as, for example, a universal serial bus (USB) port, a centronics port, a line printer terminal (LPT) port or the like. A central processing unit (CPU) or a portable handheld device may be connectable and/or may be attachable to the printer via the port of the printer. The CPU or the portable handheld device may transmit and/or may communicate a signal to the printer. The signal may be in an operating language, such as, for example, a printer command language (PCL), graphics device interface language (GDI), post-script language or the like. The printer may understand and/or may recognize the operating language and the signal may instruct and/or may control the printer. As a result, the printer may test the quality, the effectiveness, the longevity and/or the durability of the toner cartridge by printing one or more test pages of paper. Each of the test pages of paper may have toner printed thereon by the cartridge of the printer.
However, the CPU or the portable handheld device may be configured to only connect to a specific type of port, such as, for example, the USB port of the printer. If the printer does not have a USB port, the CPU or the portable handheld device is not connectable, is not attachable to and/or is not in communication with the printer. Moreover, the printer may only understand, may only recognize and/or may only operate with a specific operating language, such as, for example, the PCL language. If the CPU or the portable handheld device does not send a signal to the printer in the PCL language, the printer may not understand and/or may not recognize the signal from the CPU or the portable handheld device. The printer may not be controlled and/or may not be in communication with the CPU or the portable handheld device. As a result, the printer may not print one or more test pages of paper to test the toner cartridge.
The CPU and/or the portable handheld device may instruct the printer to perform and/or to execute a post test or a yield test in the operational language of the printer. The post test may instruct the printer to print, for example, a single page of paper, three pages of paper, four pages of paper, five-hundred pages of paper, one-thousand pages of paper or five-thousand pages of paper. The yield test may instruct the printer to print, for example, a black page or a colored page of paper, a gray page of paper, a page of paper containing text, a blank page of paper, a five-percent blackened page or a five-percent colored page of paper, a thirty-percent blackened page or a thirty-percent colored page of paper or a page of paper containing more than one color. The pulse test and/or the yield test may test the quality, the effectiveness, the longevity and/or the durability of the toner cartridge. However, the CPU or the portable handheld device may only be able to instruct the printer to perform a single test, such as, for example, the pulse test. As a result, the CPU or the portable handheld device may not be able to instruct the printer to perform both the pulse test and the yield test, and the printer may not test the toner cartridge.
The portable handheld device may operate from electrical power provided by the printer. The CPU may operate from electrical power provided from, for example, an electrical power outlet on a wall. An interruption in the electrical power of the portable handheld device and/or the CPU may cause an interruption in a buffering performed by the printer. As a result, the printer, the CPU and/or the portable handheld device may stop and/or may prevent the printer from completing the post test and/or the yield test. The CPU, the printer and/or the portable handheld device may require disassembly and/or may require rest to be operational after the interruption in the electrical power. As a result, use of the CPU and/or the portable handheld device to test the toner cartridge may be inconvenient, and/or the printer may not complete the test of the toner cartridge.
A need, therefore, exists for an apparatus, a system and a method for testing a cartridge which performs the post test and/or the yield test to test the quality, the effectiveness, the longevity and/or the durability of the toner cartridge. Additionally, a need exists for an apparatus and/or a system for testing a cartridge which may be connectable and/or attachable to the port of the printer. Further, a need exists for an apparatus, a system and a method for testing a cartridge which may transmit, may communicate and/or may send a signal or a transmission to the printer in the operating language of the printer. Still further, a need exists for an apparatus, a system and a method for testing a cartridge which may prevent the interruption of the electrical power provided to the apparatus or the system and/or may prevent the interruption of the buffering performed by the printer.